Every third week of June, fifteen to twenty thousand advertising, media, and technology professionals gather on the Croisette. Many already know each other. The others try to meet. All have something to say. And for an entire week, everyone looks for a place to say it.
The hotel terraces are packed. The conference rooms at the Palais are public. The corridors of La Croisette are a permanent stage where every conversation is exposed. This is the paradox of Cannes Lions: the festival where the global creative industry gathers is also the place where it's hardest to have a real conversation. A boat solves this problem.
Cannes Lions is called «Lions» because the award statuettes are shaped like lions. The lion is a symbol of courage, strength, and excellence, which are qualities that the festival aims to celebrate in the advertising and creative industries. The name "Lions" also evokes the prestigious and regal nature of the awards.»
The festival was born in 1954 in Venice, under the name International Advertising Film Festival. The idea: to create an event dedicated to cinema advertising films, modeled after the Venice Film Festival. The lion in the name comes from the Lion of Saint Mark, the symbol of Venice. The festival then alternated between Venice and Cannes before settling permanently on the Croisette in 1984.
What was originally a festival of advertising films has, over the decades, become the annual gathering for the entire global creative industry: agencies, advertisers, tech platforms, producers, and media. The name Lions has remained. The scope, however, has absorbed everything.
Lions is not the Cannes Film Festival
The two events share the same Croisette and the same Palais des Festivals. Everything else is different.
Visit Cannes Film Festival is a cultural event with a strong public and media presence. Red carpets, screenings, juries, photographers, the press. Glamour is the product. Cannes Lions is a purely professional event: celebrities are not the main focus, there is no general public or established spectacle. An entire industry gathers to do business for a week. Google, Meta, Publicis, WPP, Spotify, the major global creative agencies, all in the same place, at the same time.
This difference changes the nature of the boat request. At the Festival, a yacht is a stage, a setting, a demonstration of presence. During Lions, a yacht is a work tool. The logic is not the same.
The boat as the only truly private space
During the Cannes Lions week, Port Canto is a two-minute walk from the Palais des Festivals. And a boat at anchor in the Bay of Cannes is two hundred meters from the Croisette, in an entirely different world.
This is why major players in the industry, led by network agencies and tech platforms, have been booking units for the entire week for years. Some book the same boat every year. Not for sailing, but because they know exactly where their clients will be coming for lunch. Many boats don't leave the port for the entire Cannes Lions 2026 week: sailing is sometimes a pretext. Private space is the real value.
A bridge reception offers what hotels cannot guarantee: a completely controlled guest list, no walk-ins, no cameras, no eavesdropping ears. A lunch on a boat during Cannes Lions is a conversation you choose to have, with the people you've chosen to invite, in a setting you share with no one else.
The sea creates a physical separation from the rest of the festival. We are present in Cannes, on the water, ten minutes from the Palais, and simultaneously nowhere on the Croisette. This ambivalence is precisely what the creative industry is looking for during the Lions.
The Bay of Cannes in June
June is the best month for sailing in the Bay of Cannes. The sea is often calmer, the summer winds haven't set in yet, and the morning light on the Croisette and the evening light on the Esterel are at their peak. The Lérins Islands, twenty minutes from Port Canto, are accessible for lunch or a half-day before returning for afternoon appointments.
From a boat a few hundred meters from the shore, the entire Croisette unfolds: the Palais to the left, the grand hotels in the center, and Le Suquet rising to the right. This perspective is impossible to get on foot. At this distance, the Palais des Festivals ceases to be a building. It becomes what it is for one week: the center of gravity for an entire industry.
Organizing your week at Cannes Lions onboard
Our boats are based at Port Canto, two minutes from the Palais des Festivals. During the week of Cannes Lions 2026, they can be used in several formats: morning navigation before the first appointments, lunch on board at the quay or at anchor in front of the islands, evening at the quay in reception format. Availability must be booked several weeks in advance, as demand during this week is among the highest of the year.
For a full day outside the festival, the’Itinerary: Cannes, Lérins Islands, Cap d'Antibes It passes through almost deserted areas while the Croisette is saturated. This is one of the most striking contrasts of the week: one of the densest places in the creative world, and thirty minutes by boat, empty coves and a perfect sea.
→ Organize your Cannes Lions event on a boat
Book your boat for Cannes Lions 2026
Based in Port Canto, two minutes from the Palais des Festivals.
FAQ – Cannes Lions 2026 by Boat
When is Cannes Lions 2026?
Cannes Lions 2026 will be held the third week of June, generally from Monday to Friday. The 2025 edition was held from June 16-20. The 2026 dates are confirmed by the organizers (Ascential) early in the year. This is the time of year when demand for yachts at Port Canto is highest after the Cannes Film Festival.
What is the difference between Cannes Lions and the Cannes Film Festival?
The Cannes Film Festival is a cultural event centered on cinema, open to the general public and highly publicized. Cannes Lions is a professional festival reserved for the advertising, creative, and technology industries. Celebrities and public figures may be present, but they are not the core of the event. Cannes Lions remains above all a professional gathering bringing together fifteen to twenty thousand players from the global creative industry. The two events are held on the same Croisette, two months apart, with very different boat usage logics.
Why rent a boat during Cannes Lions?
During Cannes Lions, the Croisette is saturated, and every conversation is exposed. A boat offers a private space, with a controlled guest list and complete discretion. This is why network agencies, tech platforms, and advertisers have been booking units for years. The classic format: a morning cruise or lunch, returning to the dock for afternoon meetings.
Where are your boats based during Cannes Lions?
Our boats are based at Port Canto, a two-minute walk from the Palais des Festivals. It is the closest port to La Croisette, used by yachts throughout the festival. Bookings for Lions week are made several weeks in advance.
Can one sail to the Lérins Islands during Cannes Lions?
Yes. The Lérins Islands are a twenty-minute boat ride from Port Canto. While La Croisette is crowded, the coves of Sainte-Marguerite and Saint-Honorat remain accessible and uncrowded during the week. A morning at the islands before returning for afternoon appointments is one of the most requested formats during Lions.
